1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resin composition for spacer which is useful for the formation of a pixel-patterned spacer on a substrate of a liquid crystal display device, a spacer using the composition, and a liquid crystal display device that can display images with high quality.
2. Description of the Related Art
Liquid crystal displays have been widely used for producing high-quality images. In general, such liquid crystal displays each include a pair of substrates and a liquid crystal layer being packed between the substrates and having a specific alignment. The cell gap between the substrates, i.e., the thickness of the liquid crystal layer must be maintained constant so as to keep good image quality. A spacer is generally used for maintaining the cell gap constant.
Inorganic particles such as silica particles are used as the spacer, but they remain on images to deteriorate image quality. As a possible solution to this problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 62-90622 proposes a spacer formed by photolithography using a resin composition for spacer.
According to this technique, a dotted spacer is formed by patterning, developing and baking the resin composition for spacer. However, the resulting dotted spacer has a low compressive strength and shows large plastic deformation when integrated into a panel. Thus, the liquid crystal layer may have a thickness lower than a target thickness or may not have a uniform thickness to thereby cause uneven images. In addition, a residue of the resin composition for spacer remains which must be removed for providing a highly precise liquid crystal display device.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a resin composition for spacer which is satisfactorily free from residue after development, has a high compressive strength, is resistant to plastic deformation in integration into a panel and can easily and efficiently form a dotted spacer, a spacer using the composition, and a liquid crystal display device which has a targeted, uniform thickness in a liquid crystal layer and can display high-quality images.